'It's very good. The English played here a couple of weeks ago against South Australia - albeit on pitch two - and it's come up very sound, I'm very happy with it. At the moment there's a very even grass cover down the middle corridor and beyond; it's nice, hard and very true. I don't expect to see the kind of cracks they had in Brisbane for varied reasons - the heat, the climate etc. In general the temperature here has been around 33-34C and Wednesday will be 38C but there's a change coming in on Thursday and by Friday there is a slight chance of a shower. Friday is going to be 25C and Saturday 22, so we are not going to have the heat to crack the pitch open as much as you saw in Brisbane.'

Day Two

'This is probably when we will see good batting on the Adelaide Oval pitch. The bounce from day one to day two is normally very consistent. It is important to know that if a second new ball has been taken it will only be around 10 overs old by the start of day two, and therefore more pace will be experienced early in the day, like on day one with the first new ball.'

Day One

'In the first two hours you get a brand new ball, a couple of batsmen who don't know whether that ball it is going to come on to them or not and a bowler who wants to knock them over as quick as he can; it's always a very enthralling session. There will be a little moisture but, because you can't water the pitch too much, it is always somewhat dry at the start and the ball won't seam around much in the first session. The new ball will be very tricky for the team that bats first but in the afternoon things settle down. Towards the latter part of day one, when the ball is around 30 overs old, it becomes softer and the wicket becomes easier to bat on.'

Weather Cloudy and mainly fine, some chance of showers

Temperature 25C

Weather Chance of morning showers, clearing up later

Temperature 22C

Day Four

'When we get towards the end of the game the variant and irregularity of bounce will be far greater because of the wear of the pitch and the traffic of the players and the spikes ripping into the surface. From this point onwards, through day four and five, the pitch should take progressively more spin.'

Day Three

'As the temperature builds any moisture will be dried out of this pitch. The clay soil will shrink under the heat and the cracks will become wider and wider. If the ball starts to hit the cracks it will stay a bit lower and in general its bounce will certainly not be as consistent.'

Day Five

'This will become a real cat and mouse game. The pitch will be more difficult to bat on because the bowlers have run all over it and there is more wear. If I was to leave the pitch in the sun for five days without having play on it obviously it wouldn't turn as much - it's the traffic of the players that breaks the surface. So it will become difficult to bat on but that's the nature of the game.'